Zach McKelvie's Pro Hockey Dreams on Hold

ESPN.com reported yesterday that defenseman Zach
McKelvie, whom the Bruins signed as a free agent over the
summer, will have to complete a commitment of at least two years'
service on active duty after graduating from the U.S. Military
Academy at West Point, N.Y. in lieu of spending the year with
Boston's AHL or ECHL affiliates in Providence, R.I. or Reading, Pa.
McKelvie , 24, was quoted in the piece as saying that the original
Department of Defense policy, which would have allowed him to spend
the 2009-10 season playing pro hockey, changed while he was still
in school. \"The old rule when I committed to stay in the Army, the
old rule was that if you had a contract you could play immediately
upon graduation for a two-year period and they would evaluate you
during that period and they would determine at the end of that
period whether you could keep playing or you could come back here
to the Army.

But now the new Department of Defense Policy, which came out
maybe a year and a half ago, after I committed, is that you have to
serve two years first and then if you have a contract you can play
after,\" McKelvie told ESPN.com. To break it down: The U.S. Army
spends several hundred thousand dollars for each cadet who
completes the four-year coursework and supplementary military
training at West Point. While in a perfect world, and one in which
America was not at war on two fronts, one might figure that an
exception could be made in McKelvie's case, the reality is not that
simple.

In the first place, this is a DoD policy, meaning that the Army,
who worked with GM Peter Chiarelli to allow
McKelvie to come to terms and initially agreed to let him play in
Boston's system when the contract was signed, is not the approving
authority in this case. DoD encompasses all services that comprise
the nation's military, and therefore, this is not a decision the
Army can overturn on its own, even if it wanted to. At the same
time, McKelvie's frustration is understandable.

Like former Detroit Lions' seventh-round pick Caleb
Campbell, he thought he'd been given the green light to
pursue his pro hockey dreams and to have that path pulled away from
him stings. However, having served nearly 16 years on active duty
alongside many West Point grads, I know that McKelvie, by virtue of
his successful completion of the rigorous academic coursework and
demanding physical and mental challenges of the accompanying
military training he recieved during his summers, is well prepared
to overcome this hurdle. From the Boston perspective, McKelvie's
frustration is matched. I spoke to Providence head coach
Rob Murray about him several months ago, and
Murray expressed dismay at what had transpired (when McKelvie was
ordered to return to West Point indefinitely to serve as an
athletic intern), saying that he had been highly impressed with
McKelvie given the limited on- and off-ice work he did with him at
B's training camp in September.

Murray feels that McKelvie would have been an impact player on
his Providence squad this season, and that after planning to have
him on board during camp and preseason, McKelvie's absence created
a negative ripple effect for the club. What McKelvie could have
provided Providence is open to debate, but given his outstanding
speed and mobility, work ethic and mental toughness, one might
gather that he would have been a solid rookie pro at the AHL level.
Had he proven unable to handle that level of competition, more
playing time with the Reading Royals of the ECHL would have been an
option. What we do know is that none of that matters for now, as
Second Lieutenant McKelvie will serve out his military service,
starting with infantry officer basic course training at Fort
Benning, Ga.

The course will teach him how to be a rifle platoon leader and
provide him with basic military skills to be able to perform junior
staff officer duties. From there, he will possibly go onto Ranger
School, the military's premier small unit leadership course: a
grueling, two-month-plus, three-phase test of physical, mental and
emotional stamina which takes place at Benning, then in the
mountains of Dahlonega, Ga. and in the swamps of Florida. After
that (and assuming he earns the coveted Ranger tab), where McKelvie
goes is up to the Army, but he'll have some input into where he
ends up, be it at Benning, or wherever else he is needed. If past
experiences are any indication, if McKelvie is serious about pro
hockey, the door will be open to him for a return in 24 months or
so.

It won't be easy, but just as Tim Thomas
overcame long odds to become an NHL All-Star at an advanced age,
the same could hold true for McKelvie. That doesn't sound like much
of a consolation to him or the Bruins at this stage of his life,
but he just spent four years learning how not to quit and to
achieve near-Herculean tasks in the classroom, on the ice, and in
the world's foremost leadership laboratory. Don't bet for a second
that you've heard the last of Zach McKelvie.